Restoration › Hand Washing a Silk Persian Rug
Hand Washing a Silk Persian Rug
Nothing ages a rug faster than soil that is left in it. Grit works its way down to the base of the pile and cuts the fibres every time someone walks across it, and long before that it flattens the colour.
BeforeAfter❮❯
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The damage
Airborne dust and foot traffic had left a grey film across the whole rug. The reds had gone muddy, the ivory ground had yellowed, and the pile was lying flat instead of standing, which is what makes a silk rug look dead under light.
What we did
Soil is removed dry first, because water turns loose grit into mud and drives it deeper. After dry extraction the rug was washed by hand with pH-balanced, silk-safe agents, then rinsed under control until the water ran clear. It was dried flat in shade — never in direct sun, which fades silk quickly — and the pile was groomed back in the direction of the nap.
The reds read clean, the ivory ground has come back, and the pile stands and catches the light again.
- Service
- Hand washing and colour recovery
- Material
- Silk pile on a silk foundation
- Condition
- Grey soil film, dulled colour, flattened pile
- Technique
- Dry extraction, pH-balanced hand wash, flat shade drying
- Workshop
- Muscat, Oman
Send us a photo of the damage and we will tell you what can be done and what it costs. Rug Road, Muscat.
More work: see all before and after cases